Wake Forest Athletics
Going For The Glory
2/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Feb. 16, 2002
By Jay Reddick
Jerry Haas wasn't at Wake Forest the last time the Deacons won a national championship in men's golf, but he was there when the 1986 national-title team was being built.
And in 2002, Haas believes that with a few breaks, his Deacons could get back to that rare pinnacle.
That might sound like a pipe dream for a program that missed the NCAA tournament field just three years ago. Haas, a 1985 WFU graduate, knows this, but it hasn't stopped him from talking big.
"In the coaches' poll, we've been getting one first-place vote, and it hasn't come from me," Haas said. "But after the way we've been playing, and the fact that Florida just lost its best player, I told the guys, 'I'm going to start voting for you now, because I haven't seen anybody better.' And I haven't."
Florida is the school that blew everyone away at the NCAA tournament last season, but it hasn't been ranked No. 1 in the country this fall. Wake Forest was, in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, and the Deacons are now No. 2 by that measure and fourth in the coaches' poll.
WFU's success this year begins with the coach's nephew, Bill Haas, currently the No. 2 college player in the country according to Golfweek. The sophomore, PGA pro Jay Haas' son, had finishes of second, third and fifth in tournaments this fall and only finished 18 holes over par twice.
Junior Brent Wanner hasn't had Haas' consistency this season, but he has done one thing better than Haas: he won a tournament, the Golfweek Preview Invitational. He was second on the team in two of the Deacons' other four fall outings.
"Brent's a very tough kid and a good competitor," Haas said. "He's proven he can win. Those are my two go-to guys."
The other three spots in the Wake Forest lineup for the opening tournament at Sawgrass in February are still up for grabs. Senior Jay Morgan tied for fifth overall at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in the fall, but otherwise had some trouble putting up low scores. Haas hopes the unique layout in Florida will help spark Morgan's game.
"Jay's starting to play a little better," Haas said. "He's finally figured out what he was doing wrong. Golf is a game that you figure out one little thing and you're off and running. We're going to Sawgrass, which can get pretty windy. That could favor a guy like Morgan who grew up in Oklahoma, and he's proven that. He's had three or four under-par rounds on that course."
Chad Wilfong, a junior, won the N.C. Amateur championship this summer and finished third on the team in two fall events. Classmate Chris Yoder was the team's No. 3 finisher in the final event, the Long Cove Collegiate. And Cortland Lowe, who struggled in the fall, has a shot to win back a regular spot in the lineup.
"Cortland is swinging a lot better than he has been," Haas said. "He's just not putting well right now."
Once the team opens at Sawgrass, it has three weeks off before its next event, but then faces five tournaments in successive weeks, ending with the ACC championships at Uwharrie Point. By then, Haas plans to have all his players tournament-tested.
"I have some tough decisions to make, which is what you want as a coach," Haas said. "I'm going to get everybody in, because that's the best qualifier, playing in tournaments under pressure. That's the point in the year where I think it'll be key to have six, seven guys capable of playing and be able to mix the lineup."
The road back to the top of collegiate golf has been traveled under Haas' watchful eye, but he shuns any notion that he was the leader of the charge.
"I don't want any of the credit, nor do I look for it," Haas said. "It's the players that made it. We weren't where Wake Forest golf is used to being, and these players took a chance. A lot of kids will look at another school and say, 'We'll go over there, they're hot right now.' I had some kids that I saw something in, and I admire them. I'm impressed every day by how hard they work."
Much of the work to get to national glory will be spent on beating the teams in WFU's own conference. In the Golfweek rankings, Georgia Tech is currently first, and Clemson, which edged the Deacons in the Preview Invitational, is fifth.
But in reality, everything - all the rankings, all the practices, even all the tournaments - is just a prelude for the NCAA regionals and championships. That, Haas said, is when the team needs to peak.
"Florida didn't play that great (during the season) last year, then blew everybody away (at NCAAs)," Haas said. "That made me think they were one of about 15 teams with a chance at it by getting hot at the right time. I see that happening again this year."
And this year, you'll be that team?
"Yep," Haas said, "that's what I'm planning on."
